Advent Devotions

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” Jeremiah 23:5-6

Poet and novelist Robert Lewis Stevenson, was frequently sick as a child. In the years before antibiotics, his tendency to severe respiratory infections was a worry for his parents. Robert was often kept inside in an attempt to protect him from yet another round of illness. Still, he was a precocious child, already dictating stories to be written before he learned how to read. One night his nurse spotted him with his nose pressed against a drafty window. He refused to get into bed, instead calling her to come over and look through the window with him. He stood spellbound, watching a lamplighter making his way through a very dark night. With every pause another lamp was lit. Pointing to the lamplighter, the young Stephenson cried out, “See, look there; there’s a man poking holes in the darkness.”

Christmas is God’s gift of poking holes in the darkness in our lives. It is God’s message that whatever sorrow, heartache, burden or darkness we find ourselves in, God is at work spreading points of light. May this Advent be a season where our eyes are open to seeing where and how God is at work in our world.

Prayer God of light and hope, may this season of Advent be for us a reminder that your light breaks into the most difficult circumstances and time we face. Grant us an awareness of your presence and your in-breaking spirit each day. Amen

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